Okay, so I've been debating about posting this for a while because (a) I'm sort of happy with the way my PC is now and (b) I'm not sure if it breaks any rules, what with it being pretty vague and all. Anyway...

I've always wanted the kind of PC which could support really high-end graphics with a smooth frame rate. The problem is, I feel kinda like a spoiled brat because when searching the internet for other topics like this, they tend to have things like 512mb RAM whereas I have 1022mb of RAM. Now, I know almost nothing about all the system specifications jumble, so I'm going to post all my system specs and hopefully someone will be willing to tell me what needs to be upgraded the most for a quality gaming experience. I get the feeling it's my video card, which I believe is kind of out-of-date, but I'll see what you guys think:

System Specifications:

System model: Dell Dimension 9100 - I'm pretty sure that this is OK.

BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A01 - No idea what this thing is, but I'm sure it's not too important.

Processor: Intel Pentium 4 CPU 3.60 GHz (2 CPUs) - Not sure what this is either, but it sounds impressive, LoL.

Memory: 1022MB RAM - This should be alright.

DirectX version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904) - Are there any updates for this? I use Windows XP, so DirectX 10 isn't an option right now.

Video card specification thingys:

Name: RADEON X600 Series
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies

Chip Type: RADEON X600 (0x5B62)
DAC Type: Internal DAC (400 MHz)

Approx. Total Memory: 256.0 MB

I don't think there's anything else that's important, but be sure to tell me if there is. While I'm pretty sure it's the video card that doesn't allow me to play the latest games even on the lowest settings possible, be sure to tell me if there's anything else.

Thanks in advance!

Prolly go for an extra gb of ram, i recently upgraded to 2gbs and i can run stuff pretty decent now! Everything else sound fine to me, except the card cos i have nvidia so have no idea of its quality! lol

Well, I'm pretty sure that my video card is quite rubbish. 2GB of RAM seems to be recommended, but in the end it depends on what upgrade will make the most difference, because I can probably only afford one.

I'd go for a video card upgrade.

Either that or the RAM.

Video Card First, then the RAM later.

If you're gonna go for Vista as well, I'd do both.

You might even want to look into one of those Ageia Physics processors....


OFFTOPIC:
I don't want to hijjack your topic but, is it worth buying a Pentium 4 3.2 Ghz after having a Celeron of 2.66 GHZ?

YES! Celerons are quite possibly the worst possible processors on the market!

Would that explain my problems with games and how it uses 100% of my processor all the time?

Don't get a physics card. The software you use has to be designed with them and as far as im aware there are none! Physics cards are prolly the most worthless thing to have in your pc atm.

A few games do use them, especially Ageia PhysX. I know that the GRAW games will use them, and probably XSI will too, if you have your collision engine set to ageia PhysX.

Don't get a physics card. The software you use has to be designed with them and as far as im aware there are none! Physics cards are prolly the most worthless thing to have in your pc atm.

-but if you used applications that used it, it would be worthwhile....

Overall, upgrading to a faster (that doesn't always mean bigger) hard drive will speed up your entire system. However, if you just want a higher frames per second, go with a new graphics card.

You are right, the BIOS version really doesn't matter.

I would guess your P4 processor really only has one core and not two, but has Hyper-Threading enabled (which fakes a second core). Most desktops do not have two CPUs (mine does), but two cores on one CPU.

Celerons are the budget version of Pentiums.